


This Isn't Right

by stargazerdaisy



Series: Love You Three [5]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Bank Robbery, Detective OT3, Friendship, Injury Recovery, Multi, OT3-Skyewardlincoln, Romance, Working through grief and trauma, ot3 relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-04
Updated: 2016-10-04
Packaged: 2018-08-19 11:03:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8203366
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stargazerdaisy/pseuds/stargazerdaisy
Summary: Skye is shot in the stomach during a bank robbery. The boys are going crazy with worry and guilt, for personal and professional reasons.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This was where the 'verse started getting a bit deeper and more meaningful. This event has lasting reverberations for these three.

Skye had great instincts.  She was an ER nurse who saw her fair share of people at their lowest. And being best friends and then dating two rather impressive detectives has taught her even more.  So when those two shifty guys walked in to the bank behind her that morning, red lights were flashing in her mind.  Any exhaustion from her overnight shift disappeared almost immediately and she was paying attention to everything.  They hadn’t done anything yet, but she just knew something wasn’t right.  She quietly, subtly pulled out her phone, pretended to be reading something on it, but snapped a picture of the two and fired it off to Lincoln, with a quick caption “not right”.  Right as she did that, all hell broke loose.  And now, they were here, in the hospital, the boys in the waiting room, because Skye was in surgery with two bullets in her stomach.

Lincoln was sitting still, so unnaturally still, he looked like a statue.  Ward was the opposite.  He was pacing and brooding and so on edge, he was practically vibrating.  The tension was thick around them, then whenever someone new walked into the room, the newcomer paused, looked around, and tried to make themselves as unnoticeable as possible.  Words were barely spoken by either detective.  Lincoln was pretty sure he knew exactly what was going through Ward’s mind.  Ward was blaming himself, cursing himself for not being there to protect Skye, to protect anyone else in that bank, berating himself for being weak, once again.  Lincoln had known Ward long enough, and knew what made Ward the way he was, to read the old patterns and coping mechanisms re-emerging.  It was why Ward had become a cop in the first place, so he could protect everyone, keep them safe (the way he couldn’t _before_ ).  Lincoln himself knew better.  They couldn’t be everywhere at all times, to prevent crimes before they happened.  It just wasn’t possible.  And sometimes, people got hurt.  There was no reason to think Skye shouldn’t have been at the bank that morning.  Why wouldn’t she be perfectly safe at 9:30am on a Tuesday morning?  But she wasn’t safe.  And now they were all facing the possible ramifications of that.  Lincoln just sat there, paralyzed, caught somewhere between utter despair and blind rage at the injustice of it all.

After several hours, with only crappy cups of coffee brought to them by one of Skye’s friends (Kara kept an eye on them when she had a break), the surgeon finally came in.  Both boys jumped up and stood before her, desperately hoping for good news, but being terrified by the grim expression on her face.  

“She’s going to be okay,” Dr. Sanders began.

Lincoln let out a huge breath, closed his eyes, and visibly sagged in relief.  Ward remained his stoic, still self.  

“She made it through surgery, though we had to remove her spleen, it was just too badly damaged.  She’s resting now, but with time, she should recover just fine.”

“Thank you so much, doctor.”  

The surgeon nodded and left them to it.  All the exhaustion and tension and weight of the last day felt crushing.  It was no longer holding them up.  Now that she was safe, or at least was going to be, there was space to finally _feel_.  Lincoln wanted to just relax and focus on the hope and relief of Skye being okay, but Ward was already charging out to the nurses’ station, demanding to see Skye.  The nurse was having none of his shit and Lincoln heaved himself up to calm down his partner.  Ward kept getting more and more angry and demanding until finally Mack came down the hallway and in no uncertain terms ordered both boys to go home, get some sleep, get some food, shower and come back in the morning when they were ready to act like actual human beings.  Because the crazy eyes he was seeing right now would only serve to stress Skye out and hinder her recovery.  Plus she was going to be asleep for several hours.  Lincoln quickly agreed and tried to pry Ward away, but when he was met with resistance, he looked a little closer.  The cracks were forming and any second now, Ward would lose it.   _Of course_ , Lincoln thought, mentally smacking himself for not realizing it sooner.  He was worried they were lying to him and she wouldn’t be here when they got back.

“Mack, I know we can’t really visit her right now, and we’ll absolutely go home.  But can we just look in on her for a second?  Just to see her with our own eyes?” Lincoln pleaded.  
Mack nodded and led them to her room.  After a quick peek, which was hard enough, Lincoln could feel Ward’s muscles relax, even just a fraction. Now that the major fear was assuaged, Ward allowed himself to be led home.

 

The next morning, they were back at the hospital, waiting in her room while she continued sleeping.  She started stirring, catching their attention.  Her face scrunched up the way it did every morning, like she was fighting waking up but knew she really had to.  A smile quirked across Lincoln’s face as the familiar sight.  She was still there, still Skye.  

Without opening her eyes, she croaked out, “Did you get them?”

The smile turned into a chuckle from Lincoln, while Ward just groaned, but gripped her hand a little tighter.  “Really, Skye?  That’s the first thing you say?”

“Well, Robot, what did you expect me to say?  ‘Hey, not dead yet, cool!’?  Now, answer my question.”

“Skyyyyeeeee!” he whined.  

“Yes Skye,” Lincoln broke in, before the conversation got even more derailed.  “We got them and they’re in lockup right now.  Don’t worry, you’re safe.”

Skye smirked, but both guys also saw her shoulders relax a little, knowing she wasn’t in danger.  “Alright.  Thanks.  Now tell me, just how much have you two been driving everyone around here insane?  And don’t even pretend you haven’t been.  I _know_ you and how insufferable you can be.  Remember guys, I work here and want these people to still like me.” 

At the conclusion of her little speech, Ward’s eyes finally regained some of their normal light.  Seeing her just be her was all the reassurance he needed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happens when it's time to leave the hospital.

Skye improved steadily over the week.  She was a favorite among the hospital staff and a mostly cooperative patient (which was rare for health care workers, usually they were the worst patients).  But when she just waved off the discharge nurse that she’d be fine at home alone, Lincoln and Ward totally jumped in and challenged her on it.

“No way you’re going to be alone in that apartment,” Lincoln started.

“Not when you can barely move across the room without getting exhausted,” Ward added.

“Exactly.  Plus you live on the third floor of a building with no elevators.  You think you’re just going to walk up all those flights without any worries?”

“You wouldn’t even make it past halfway up the first flight.  So no, your apartment is out.  Not going to happen.”

“Plus, you never have any food there and you’re not going to recover if you eat only Cheetos and Dr Pepper.”

“Tell you what, you’re coming to mine and I’ll make sure you’re taken care of,” Ward said, with finality. 

Lincoln balked, “Hey, why yours?  What about mine?”

“Mine is closer to the station so we could get back faster after shift.”

“True but yours also has a flight of stairs and your room is smaller,-” Lincoln pointed out.

“Oh man, I forgot about that.”

“I’ve got the couch too.”

Ward nodded, convinced.  “Alright, we’re taking her to your place.”  

With that, the negotiations were complete and it was decided that Skye was being taken to Lincoln’s for another week or two, until she was much more stable on her own.  Skye never uttered a word, just watched the boys volley back and forth.  She’d be offended at them deciding everything for her, if she wasn’t so amused. Plus, they were right, much as she hated to admit it.  And having them come home to her every night certainly sounded amazing.  Their schedules often didn’t line up the best, so her having a few weeks off work and having the boys at her beck and call had quite the appeal.

So after she secured a promise from Kara to come visit a couple days during the week, she was driven ‘home’ and helped into the house (though Ward had to seriously fight the urge to just pick her up and carry her in, but resisted because he knew how stubborn she was and worried it would end up hurting her more).  Lincoln got her settled on the couch (she refused to get back in another bed after a week in the hospital) while Ward went to her apartment to pick up clothes and the rest of her things.  

Skye pulled out her laptop and tried to do her normal browsing, but as much as she tried to deny it, she had been through quite a bit and her body needed a lot to recover.  Within 10 minutes she was sound asleep on the couch.  Lincoln made sure her laptop was in a safe place so it wouldn’t fall off her lap and break, then headed off the kitchen to get dinner started.  As he chopped vegetables, his hands started shaking a little.   _She could have died, she could have died!_ kept running through his head.  A little bit of grease popped, landing on his hand, stinging, the pain sharpening his frustration at the terrifying situation.  He kept going, but his grief and anger were growing stronger even minute.  Finally, it reached a boiling point and he threw a mug at the wall as hard as he could, causing it to shatter everywhere just as Ward walked through the door.  

“Whoa Linc!  What the hell, man?”

“Sorry,” he muttered quickly, looking down, trying to calm his shaking fists.

“Lincoln?” came the quiet call from the other room.  

The boys looked at each other, then Ward put his hand up, “I’ll get her settled.  I’ll be right back.”

Lincoln nodded and turned to grab the broom.  A couple minutes later Ward returned, having explained to Skye that Lincoln just dropped something and to go back to sleep.  The ceramic shards had been swept up and disposed of as well, leaving Lincoln sitting at the table, staring at the floor.  Ward sat down next to him.  “So, you want to tell me what that was about?”

“It’s nothing.  Just slipped out of my hand.”

“Right.  It slipped off the hook under the cupboard, into your hand, and then kept slipping 12 feet across the kitchen, before hitting the wall five feet up, so hard that it was completely destroyed.  Yeah, damn slippery mugs.”

Lincoln just sighed and looked to the side.

“How about I take a guess?  I’m guessing you were standing there working on dinner, when it just hit you how unfair this was.  How scary.  How close you were to losing her.  And that just made you angry, because no way in hell is someone going to take her from you, from us.  And that anger needed you to do something.  Since the perps aren’t readily available, the mug got to be their stand-in and you got to feel like you were actually doing something to hurt them, like you’re hurting right now?  Am I getting warm?”

Lincoln just looked at him, completely shocked, Ward having articulated every single one of his feelings in that succinct statement.  Before he knew it, tears were pricking at his eyes.  “She could have _died_ ,” he whispered.  

Ward reached for him, pulling him into an embrace against his chest.  “I know.  I _know_.  And I was scared out of my mind too.  Those assholes don’t deserve anything they’re getting right now.  Prison is too good for them.”

Lincoln sniffled, but let himself melt into the warmth Ward provided.  

“It’s okay, Linc.  Let go.  You’ve been the one holding everyone else together.  It’s okay for you to fall apart too.  This happened to you too and you can break down if you need to.  Go ahead, I’ve got you.”

At that last sentence, Lincoln did.  He let go and just wept, knowing his partner was there for him in every way he needed.  Several minutes later, the tears had stopped and his breathing was almost back to normal.

“Lincoln?” Her voice was so quiet.

He jumped up and came over to her right away, “What’s going on, Skye?  Why are you up?  What do you need?  You should go sit back down!”

Skye waved him off.  “I’m fine.  It looks like you’re the one who needs something right now.  Are you okay?”

“Of course.  I’m always okay,” he assured her.

“Liar,” she affectionately rolled her eyes, before growing serious again.  Skye put her hand on his cheek, moving his head so he had to look at her.  “Lincoln, I don’t think I’ve said this properly yet, but **_thank you_**.  Thank you for everything.  You’re the one that was there, keeping me from going insane and stopping Ward from going off the deep end.  Thank you for being what we needed, even while you were going through it all too.  I’m going to be okay now, so you can be not-okay if you need.”

Lincoln blushed, but looked more deeply in her eyes.  “Really?”

“Really,” she confirmed.  “Plus, we can’t have Ward being the only drama queen around here.  I don’t know that I can take one more tantrum from him.  I mean, really.  How much pouting can one man do?”  She winked at both her boys, while they chuckled.  

“Thanks.”

“Of course.”  She kissed him on the cheek, then pulled back, changing the topic.  “Now this is a kitchen, is it not?  Does that mean a poor, recovering invalid might find some sustenance here?  Because I am ready to faint after hospital food for a solid week.  Yuck!”

Everyone laughed and Ward got up to come hug her as well, as Lincoln moved back to the stove to finish preparations.  “Yeah, I think we can handle that, right Lincoln?  As long as you promise to sit down and rest.  Here, I’ve got a seat for you right here.”  He pulled her onto his lap.

“Fine, you win.  Plus, he’s pretty hot when cooks, don’t you think?” she nodded at Lincoln.

“Definitely,” Ward purred in her ear.


End file.
